Dog itchiness and rash/spots in groin

[Gemmie]

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Hi there,

I have a 2 year old female non spayed Lab collie, up until around 4 months ago she had absolutely no health issues.

She’s been on the same brand on hypo allergenic kibble since she was 6 months old, she also has raw sprats with each meal. She has hypoallergenic treats only and she gets omega 3,6,9 as a supplement and evening primrose, also coconut oil raw. I haven’t changed any cleaning products, my clothes and her bedding, my bedding have always been washed with fairy non bio. I don’t use any sprays on her.

A couple of months ago she started biting her paws & then scratching all over her body, she was scratching so much she started to go bald in patches, she also had a red rash in her groin. I took her to the vet they checked for fleas & mites but she’s completely clean, they gave me some allergy tablets for her which calmed it down for a bit but I didn’t like the sedative affect it had on her so after a week I stopped them.
Fast forward a month she’s had an oatmeal bath, I’ve got a colloidal oatmeal spray for her “rash” which has helped a bit but she’s still quite itchy & the spots/rash are still in her groin. I’ve attached some photos of the rash/spots it’s very bizarre because some of them seem to be yellow heads??

Can anyone advise as to what this could be and what I can do to help because at this point the vets are saying my only option would be steroids which clearly I don’t want to start her on!!

 

[JudyN]

You're giving her lots of skin-beneficial fatty acids and omegas - sprats, omega 3,6,9 supplements, evening primrose and coconut oil. The internet suggests that too much omega 3 or fish oils can cause a rash, so maybe she's getting too much of a good thing?

 

[excuseme]

Could I first suggest that you stop all of the extra oils and supplements that you may be giving her and try a complete change of diet.
All of these Hypoallergenic foods are not a guarantee, but that they may be less likely to cause a problem.
My suggestion, and this is only a suggestion, would be to try a changeover to a more natural food such as an all raw diet.
We once had a border collie who never did well on a commercial diet but when we realised how much she enjoyed raw fresh caught rabbits and changed her over to a natural raw diet she changed completely and blossomed.

Topical treatments and various shampoos are going to remove the natural oils form our dogs skins, just use clear water washes only with NO products as often as you like.
A raw meat diet may not work as this is only a suggestion, but surely it is better than using steroids and continuous veterinary costs, it may help!
Raw is proven to help many dogs with allergies and itching.
Food allergies sometimes appear suddenly and without any good reasons.
Processed meats and fresh raw meats can react quiet differently and their benefits vary too.

The spots look familiar and if any our get them they are popped and bathed with salt water. ( maybe caused by dirty brambles and scratchy Bracken ! ) The spots in our case are not itchy.
You could have more than one problem here.

 

[Hemlock]

Nettles and similar plants can cause this too.